NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The president of the largest teachers’ union said on Monday that everyone has a right to American privileges during a protest against immigration enforcement in Los Angeles while chaos descended on the city.
“We the people. All of us… All of us have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice,” National Education Association (NEA) president Becky Pringle shouted during a protest rally.
The NEA president has always been vocal in her criticism of the Trump administration and previously disavowed President Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown.
Pringle in January released guidelines to help schools prepare for immigration authorities after Trump rescinded the law that prohibited Immigration and Customs Enforcement from entering sensitive areas such as schools and hospitals.
“Tragically, for our nation, the incoming Trump administration is committed to a mass deportation agenda that will inflict irreversible harm on our students, their families and communities,” Pringle said in a statement at the time.
Rioters on Monday struck the windows of the Los Angeles Police Department’s headquarters and faced tear gas that officials deployed downtown as agitators clashed with authorities in the city amid protests against immigration authorities. The protests began on Friday after federal agents carried out enforcement operations across the city, sparking outrage from some in the community.
In response to the unrest, Trump deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops to the area, with 300 troops arriving over the weekend.
The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, released a statement on Sunday blasting Trump’s decision to deploy the troops, claiming he did so to “intimidate peaceful immigration protesters in Los Angeles.”
“This illegal, heavy-handed, and unnecessary crackdown on peaceful protesters is a trumped-up excuse to manufacture a spectacle and stoke further tensions. Instead of de-escalating, the administration seems intent on provoking and scapegoating hardworking immigrants to distract from its political woes,” she said.
Footage from over the weekend captured a circle of dozens of people, many wearing masks, surrounding an American flag burning on the ground. Several of the individuals then spit on the flag or sprayed flammable liquid to continue the blaze before a second flag was added to the fire.
A number of the protesters held high the flags of Mexico and South American countries as the U.S. flag burned on the ground. They also chanted “F-Trump.”
Other footage from the riots showed officers with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department moving in to disperse the crowds, shooting flash bangs as they went.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
The post President of largest teachers union in US defends illegal immigrants during anti-ICE protest in LA appeared first on Fox News.
